FOUNDER AND PRESIDENT
DEVOPS DETROIT, DETROIT
EMPLOYEES: 8
REVENUE: NA
COLLEGE: UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN-DEARBORN
Umelo Onyejiaka’s career path was inspired by the film “Limitless.”
The cloud solutions engineer says he drew great inspiration from Hollywood’s 2011 sci-fi thriller. In the movie, Eddie Mora, a struggling writer portrayed by Bradley Cooper, takes a smart drug that opens up access to underutilized parts of his brain.
“How many of us know what it is to become the perfect version of ourselves?” Mora asks.
Onyejiaka took it upon himself to seek an answer to that very question.
“I took it as, wow, if you have the ability to focus and lock in, you can do anything,” he explains.
Another movie that inspired him is “Hidden Figures,” the 2016 drama about three Black women who served key roles for NASA as mathematicians during the Space Race.
“It showed me that, hey, you can upscale and transition in your career, and you can have people, a group, supporting you and learning together. And that’s how DevOps Detroit started happening,” he relays.
His career transition occurred after earning an accounting degree at the University of Michigan-Dearborn. Beyond the ledger sheets, he also took information systems courses, including those focused on databases and web development.
“After college, a lot of my technical growth came through self-learning, trial and error, and making mistakes along the way. As I progressed in my career, I began following a more structured learning path and started earning industry certifications.”
By day, in Auburn Hills, Onyejiaka is a cloud solutions engineer on the DevOps team at Aumovio, formerly Continental’s auto group that spun off as an independent company in 2025.
Concurrently, he launched DevOps Detroit, a nonprofit dedicated to refining tech talent. The team includes board members with expertise in networking and business strategy.
In a 17-day stretch this spring, DevOps was lined up to present a Claude Code Workshop at Rivet Work headquarters in Detroit, a Tech Talk Tuesday at Ferndale High School, and a pair of Linux workshops at Hunt Street Station near Eastern Market.
Funding for DevOps comes from community sources, and the organization capitalizes on collaborations for access to physical facilities.
Taking a broad approach to technology, Onyejiaka hosts the DevOps Detroit Podcast, where he covers AI, future workforce trends, and other tech-related topics. In one episode, two guests traced their early career paths and shared how they’re “learning on the fly.”
Onyejiaka’s energies are reaching new audiences.
In 2025, he was chosen to speak at Michigan DevFest, the state’s largest developer conference. Additionally, he’s received a number of special citations and was a Black Tech Saturday Future 100 awardee.
As part of a new generation of leaders who combine technical expertise with community initiatives, Onyejiaka has a singular attitude on supporting individual growth and helping to meet the needs of Detroit’s expanding tech ecosystem.
“Detroit’s tech scene is growing and there’s going to be demand, and we just want to be a part of that, and we want to support that.”
— Ronald Ahrens
